Gans Studio
Five Housing Prototypes for New Orleans
CHCP Challenge: Making Room
First Step Housing for the Homeless
Resume

26-20 Jackson
Avenue
Garrisonâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Architects

26-20 Jackson Avenue fills a small corner lot in a high
density zoning district in Long Island City, NY. The
program is to provide extremely compact two bedroom
rental apartments that will be affordable and attractive
to young working individuals, many of whom may live with
roommates. While bedrooms are small, at 100 square feet,
living rooms are quite generous. All spaces are carefully
detailed with low window sills, large glass areas, nine
foot four inch ceilings and individual climate control.
Kitchens and bathrooms are given particular attention
while every room allows for flexible furniture placement.
Part of the challenge of any rental housing development
is to control first costs throughout the design effort
and to deliver durability and perceivable quality. This
was particularly evident in the selection of building
systems.
A nine-story building with a 25â&#x20AC;&#x2122; x 100â&#x20AC;&#x2122; footprint and a
height to width ratio of 3.75 fits within reasonable structural limits, but required careful design to reduce the
loss factor to an acceptable amount. The narrow width
required the careful coordination of structure to eliminate steel weight and redundancy. Piping runs for heat
pumps were reduced by the placement of condenser units
in balcony recesses. And the exterior cladding system of
concrete composite rain screen panels has been developed
to reduce costs and maintenance while expressing a refined
modern aesthetic.
The building also has significant environmental features
that seek to balance first cost value with the marketability of reduced tenant utility expenses, We specified
an inexpensive continuous exterior wall insulation system
that yields an R 28 and eliminates thermal bridging and
condensation. All building hot water is generated by an
evacuated solar thermal tube array at the roof, significantly reducing hot water costs. And the use of individual tenant-controlled and billed variable refrigerant heat
pump units yield a thirty percent energy reduction along
with an incentive to control consumption.

The Driggs Pod is a 70,000 sf mixed use hotel and commercial development in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The program called for extremely small hotel rooms with
an area of 120 sf each, related recreation and hotel services, ground floor retail and below-grade parking.

Address

Brooklyn, NY
Status
In Progress
Area

70,000 square feet

The Pod hotel concept relies on intelligent and efficient
design to provide an affordable, attractive and spaciousfeeling room - with a place for every essential - within
in a small area. To this end, the bathroom is enclosed
with glass dividers that are transparent above chest
height, expanding the visual dimensions of the room.
Windows are strategically placed to draw the eye outside,
Storage, workspaces and seating areas are integrated and
optimized so that every surface is designed and utilized
to create a functional guest room in a minimal space.
The building is located in a manufacturing district and
is constrained by zoning to a height of forty feet at
the street and fifty feet overall. Given the narrow width
of a double-loaded corridor building with small spaces,
a series of courtyards were configured along a central
circulation spine that brings light, air, greenery, and
activity to the various rooms.
The Driggs Pod is designed as a modular system with two
rooms and a corridor joined to create ten foot by thirty
foot prefabricated components. The modular system is
designed on a BIM platform so that it can serve as a shop
drawing and fabrication resource for the manufacturer.
This manufacturing approach dramatically reduces construction time and trade coordination errors.

The Unit
The compact unit is designed to utilize
every square inch. Strategic window placement visually enlarges the minimal space,
while access to shared courtyards and rooftop greenery offer outdoor destinations.

A.I.R.
MODULAR
DORMITORY
Garrisonâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Architects

The A.I.R. (Artist in Residence) hall was developed for a
modular housing competition at Pratt Institute. The competition was judged by Barry Bergdoll, Kenneth Frampton,
Avi Telyas, Tom Hanrahan, and Richard Scher. The other
participants were Obra Architecture, Marble Fairbanks,
Narofsky Architects, and Peter Gluck and Partners.
We were faced with the challenge of maximizing the number
of units within a relatively constrained site and restrictive zoning guidelines. Our solution combines the density
of a double-loaded corridor with the openness and environmental benefits of a single-loaded corridor by creating
an atrium in the center of the building that lets in sunlight and air. Tectonic shifts in the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s modular
form create a network of porches and walkways within this
atrium which encourage collaboration and exchange.
This residence hall will extend the mission and character
of the Pratt campus, seeding cultural activity within the
surrounding community and establishing a clear identity
for its students.
The building blurs the boundaries between art and life
by creating an interplay between living, exhibition, and
performance spaces. A gallery, theater, and lounges at
various levels provide collective spaces while a vertical gallery creates individual exhibition space for each
apartment.
Through programming, image, and accessibility, the new
residence hall will establish itself as a destination for
both its residents and students from the main campus.
The atrium creates a passage for light and air to flow
through the structure, while heliostats on the roof bring
light into the center of the building. Multiple sustainability features are made possible by this concept with
resulting health, energy savings, and resource conservation benefits.

Dormitory Life
Suite style dorm rooms helped maximize
the number of units, while a doubleloaded corridor offers openness and the
ability to intersect living space, gallery space, and lounge space.

NZINGA
TOWNHOMES
Garrisonâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Architects

The Nzinga Town Homes are inspired by developer Yolande
Nicholson and designed by Garrison Architects from the
inside out to be livable spaces that will stay livable
even as energy costs rise. Open, airy, sunlit spaces
reflect your modern lifestyle and needs. Large front glass
windows and convenient balconies drench each floor with
light and air. Owner-occupants will enjoy almost 2,000
square feet of living space, two outdoor decks and access
to backyard gardens, an additional 900 square foot rental
apartment and off-street parking provided adjacent to
enclosed community courtyard.
Included in all Nzinga Town Homes are a built-in fireplace,
maple wood cabinets, stone countertops in kitchens and
baths, Energy Star appliances, fully insulated for sound
attenuation, outdoor space off master bedroom, balconies
with integral planters and trellises at front of upper
three floors to provide privacy, optional sun shading/
sun heating and air filtration (and in the winter, natural heat), solar generated ventilation plus an option for
solar generated heating/cooling, ultra high efficiency
heating plus compact fluorescent lighting throughout.
Nzinga Town Homes are 2 blocks from the A express stop at
Nostrand, 4 express stops to Manhattan, 1 block from the
newly renovated Restoration Plaza at New York Avenue and
Fulton Street offering dining, entertainment and shopping
at Super Foodtown supermarket.

Address

Brooklyn, NY

Modular Construction
Higher construction quality is achieved at a reduced
construction time period.
Modular homes can be erected
in 2/3rds the typical alotted
time.

James Garrison is an architect and educator whose work
expands the boundaries of
sustainability, demonstrating
how modern architecture can
address the ecological challenges of our era. Garrison
believes that teaching and
practice reinforce one another
as research and innovation are
shared between them.
In 1991, he founded James
Garrison Architects to bring
greater personal attention to
his clients. The firm has focused on a wide range of activities from master plans for
Tokyo to urban playgrounds of
recycled plastics. It utilizes
a comprehensive approach to
sustainability with the goal
of eliminating the machinery
and energy demands of artificial climate control. The
firm’s work has received numerous awards from The American
Institute of Architects, The
Chicago Athenaeum, and The
General Services Administration Design Excellence Program.

Commitment
Mr. Garrison provides general
leadership of the firm, including a generation of design
concepts, direction of design
development, communication
with clients, and the technical overview of building
systems. He personally oversees the development of each
project that is undertaken in
the office.

Housing Projects
Washington Court, New York, NY
80,000 square feet of duplex
apartments.
Bard College Alumni Houses,
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Four houses comprises of 18
student rooms apiece; each
grouping contains a living
room, study room, and kitchen.
21,000 square feet
500 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Mixed use urban tower containing luxury apartments
above office space designed to
be contiguous with the existing 500 Park Avenue Building.
Modular Urban Housing, Pittsburg, PA
10,000 square feet
Competition proposal for modular construction of a series
of adjacent two family houses.
Honorable Mention.
Private Residence, New York,
NY
1,700 square feet
Duplex residence created from
two flats on the second and
third floor of an eighteen
foot wide townhouse.
Bard College Residence Halls,
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
36,000 square feet
The new Bard College Residence
Halls provide housing for 126
students and are “the most
desirable place to live on
camps” according to the Bard
College building committee.

Sal Tranchina has over 20
years of experience in the
practice of architecture.
His education as an engineer
and focus on the implementation of design make him a
knowledgable and disciplined
manager. He has a deep understanding of techincal issues
and yet is rigorous about
maintaining the overall architectural vision of a project.
Sal is generally responsible
for the management of office
production, schedule maintenance and staffing. He manages
multiple projects, including
the largest and most complex
projects in the office, acts as
primary design critic to the
Principal, and helps to maintain quality control standards
during design and document
production. He has also acted
as prime contact for all of
the projects with the Federal
Government, and is a GSA Design Excellence Peer Reviewer.
Prior to work with G-A, he
spent nine years as founding
Partner of Artifact Design +
Construction. There he co-designed several award-winning
and widely published projects
and managed their successful
completion while maintaining
the integrity of the original
design. He has also worked
with Gabellini Associates and
Rockwell Group during these
successful retail and hospitality practices’ formative
years.
Sal combines an engineer’s
pragmatic problem solving
ability with the design eye
of an architect. His approach to the design process
has been honed as well in his
academic pursuits: he teaches
both building design and professional practice at Pratt
Institute’s School of Architecture.

Feasibility Studies
Convent and Lincoln-Juarez
Land Port of Entry Laredo, TX
These comprehensive Studies commissioned by the GSA
required intensive research,
clear communication of complex information, sensitive
management of several governmental stakeholder agencies,
and close coordination with a
team of technical consultants.
The Laredo Studies investigated several alternatives and
proposed final schemes for the
complete renovation of two of
the busiest border crossings
in the country.
Role: Project Manager
Syracuse University
School of Architecture,
Syracuse, NY
This project, budgeted at $17
million, involved a reprogramming and complete systems
replacement of Slocum Hall, a
19th century Beaux Arts building. Sal designed and detailed
the new insertions and managed the coordination of the
complex mechanical, electrical, and structural modernization process necessary to make
this a 21st century building.
Role: Project Manager/Project
Architect

Jason Buchheit has over 15
years of professional experience in the practice of
architecture. His education
and experience as a designer
at a number of top design
firms has endowed him with
a sophisticated design and
detailing sensibility which
he brings to his role as
Project Architect. He has a
deep understanding of technical issues and a rigorous
design discipline. During
his professional experience,
Jason has been involved in
numerous University projects
at a range of scales and
project types. His approach
to the design process has
been honed with an active
interest and investment in
prefabrication technologies,
both in the professional
realm and in his academic
pursuits.

Lehman College Child Care
Center, Bronx, NY
The project combines a
state of the art design and
sustainability including
balconies and vertical gardens for plant cultivation
by each classroom. A passive
buoyant air ventilation system exhausts air at the top
of a central atrium while
cleansed ventilation air
is supplied to the building via the classrooms and
the building’s integrated
green walls. The principal
façades face east and west
and incorporate vertical
polycarbonate tubes designed
to harvest light as the sun
strikes the building from
oblique angles. The Child
Care Center will be constructed in six months with
minimal campus disruption,
as all the modules will be
set within a single week.
Role: Project Architect
Atlantic Yards Tower Two,
Brooklyn, NY
Proposal for a prefabricated
modular 28 story residential

tower in Brooklyn.
Role: Project Architect.
San Ysidro Land Port of Entry,
San Ysidro, CA
This 250,000 sf project at the
busiest land border crossing
in the world involved complete
restructuring of the departmental organization of the
New Department of Homeland
Security related to a Land
Port of Entry and integration
of LEED sustainability criteria into the most polluted of
the border crossings. Specific
roles included developing
Exterior Inspection Canopies
and designing a new Prototype
Inspection Booth for GSA Land
Port of Entry projects.
Role: Project Architect
with Ross Drulis Cusenber Architects

Caitlin Moore has over 10
years of experience in the
field of architecture. She is
deeply committed to sustainable design and to finding
a rational approach and
elegant solution to each
project. Her background
in both architecture and
architectural history has
exposed her to a broad range
of experiences and projects,
spanning sustainable planning and urban redevelopment
projects, archaeological
preservation and adaptive
re-use, and a number of interior renovation and new
construction projects. Having worked in both New York
City and Newark, NJ, she
has experience with affordable public-based projects
as well as high-end private
projects. At Garrison—Architects she has had a leadership role in a variety of
project types.

Staten Island Animal Care
Center,Staten Island, NY
The main objective behind
the design for the new animal shelter was to create
a high quality environment
for the animals, staff, and
visitors. The building is
sheathed in a highly insulating, translucent polycarbonate envelope, which provides higher performance in
comparison to typical glass
and maximizes the benefits of
natural light. The roof of
the outer perimeter housing
the animals is raised above
a lower interior roof plane
which covers other shelter
functions. This configuration
permits the daylight to enter the facility on multiple
sides. Natural ventilation
is encouraged along the periphery with the use of passive air ventilation system.
A sophisticated mechanical
system using heat recovery
to feed heat gain energy
back into the system is incorporated into the design
to provide constant fresh

air exchange. The building is
designed as a low budget, high
performance space. Locally
produced materials with high
recycled content are chosen.
With the selection of materials that can withstand abuse,
the long term maintenance
costs can be minimized.
Role: Project Manager
NYC Public Design Commission
Award
The Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project (MARP) Building,
Brooklyn, NY
This new mixed-use building on
Myrtle Avenue, across from the
Pratt Institute, will provide
a home for MARP and other
non-profits as well as street
front com and housing above.
The building is being designed
to minimize its environmental impact, provide contextual
continuity within the scale of
the existing “street wall”, and
elevate the design standard
of the re-emerging commercial
corridor.
Role: Project Architect

As a consequence of the success of their community based
master plan for New Orleans East funded by a HUD grant,
Deborah Gans and James Dart were hired by ACORN housing
to develop five housing prototypes to be built on over 350
adjudicated properties in New Orleans East and the lower
Ninth Ward. In order to flexibly engage the construction economy in New Orleans post–Katrina, Gans and Dart
designed two versions of each prototype: one to be stick
built in order to develop the local labor force, and one
to be prefabricated to accommodate the dearth of local
materials and labor. Based on extensive interviews with
potential homeowners, the architects developed a housing type between 900 and 1500 square feet to accommodate
a range of lifestyles with durable and safe construction
and passive environmental techniques. The “First Shot” and
“Best Shot” are shotgun houses with updated circulation.
The “Mother-in-Law” has a half raised front unit for an
elderly relative or neighborhood business. The “Courtyard”
creates a modern suburban version of a classic New
Orleans urban house. The “Double Story” accommodates
irregular and small lots.
The dissolution of ACORN has halted their production, but
the work has had a large impact through its public presentation, exhibition, and publication.

Deborah Gans was one of four architects commissioned by
The Architectural League of New York and Citizens Housing
Policy Council (CHPC) to invent new housing types for
the unmet needs of current New Yorkers and to challenge
the existing codes and policies that make new solutions
impossible.
In the initial symposium at Japan Society,
she proposed three models that could be executed independently but that would have even greater impact if
thought of in relation to each other and to an existing
neighborhood, in this case, Astoria, Queens. Her housing plan for Astoria led to her subsequent involvement in
the CIVIC ACTION CHARETTE for Astoria, sponsored by The
Noguchi Museum and The Architectural League of New York.
All three of her initial designs received positive and
extensive press coverage, including The New York Times and
WNYC. Her three designs included the following:

Client

Architectural League of New
York and Citizens Housing
Policy Council (CHCP)

BARNACLE
Retrofitting single family homes with multiple apartments
RAVENSNEST
Mixing very large apartments with extremely small ones in
relation to shared community space in mid-scale buildings
RE:MX
Retrofitting industrial buildings with micro-units above
light manufacturing space
Her proposition for micro-apartments, particularly in the
social spaces that extend each unit, was instrumental in
the formulation of the current Request for Proposal of
the City of New York :adAPT.
In January of 2013 her work for Making Room will be featured in an exhibit at The Museum of the City of New York
devoted to the CHPC project.

BARNACLE
3D Massing

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November 10, 2011

Rethinking Ways to Divide Living Space
By FRED A. BERNSTEIN

IS there a mismatch between the housing New Yorkers need and the housing that gets built? Only 17
percent of dwelling units in the city are occupied by parents raising children under 25, according to
the nonprofit Citizens Housing and Planning Council, but most new homes are designed with such
traditional families in mind.
What is missing, housing advocates say, are homes for people who can afford only a little bit of space;
living quarters large enough for four or more unrelated adults to share; and “accessory dwellings” for
people who want to live close to family members who own single-family houses.
The absence of affordable housing for artists, actors, musicians and writers hoping to gain a foothold
in New York is of particular concern. “We’re losing a lot of creative people to places like Buffalo and
Berlin,” said Matt Blesso, a developer.
But developers like Mr. Blesso say city and state laws make it difficult to diversify the city’s housing
stock. For example, it’s illegal to build units without kitchens and bathrooms or smaller than 400
square feet; and by law no more than three unrelated people are allowed to share a dwelling in the
city.

Sponsor

David J. Burney, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Design and Construction, says “the
regulatory environment has fallen behind” New York’s diverse population.

clear sky | 64.0°f
WNYC News Blog
November 09, 2011

Last Monday, several architects presented their ideas for new types of housing for low-income New

Architects
Attempt
Yorkers. “We asked them to break the rules,” said Jerilyn Perine, the executive director
of the
Citizensto Make Illegal Apartments Safe, Well Designed
Monday, November 07, 2011 - 12:00 AM
Housing and Planning Council, which organized the conclave (along with the Architectural League of
By Cindy Rodriguez
New York). Five city commissioners were on hand to critique the proposals.
Is there a safe way to meet the housing needs of people who currently live in windowless, cramped or illegal apartments
Deborah Gans, an architect from Brooklyn, proposed adding tiny accessory units to a Tudor-style

riddled with fire hazards? That’s what five groups of architects will try to answer, and even put forward plans to do just
that, at a symposium called “Making Room” to be held at the Japan Society Monday morning.

single-family house in Queens, some of them clinging to the original building. (Panelists referred to it
as the barnacle approach.)

The symposium, sponsored by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, emerged out of an effort to address the demand
for illegally sub-divided apartments, illegal basements and other housing units that rent in an underground housing market.
CHPC director Jerilyn Perine said it’s only right that the city vacate these dangerous living spaces, but there should also be
a strategy for figuring out where the people who get displaced will live.

Rafi Segal, an architect who collaborated with Stan Allen Architect, also of Brooklyn, showed plans for
a low-rise building in which prefabricated housing units would cluster around large light wells, with

"The guy who brought you your Chinese food delivery where does he live, students that you see on the train, where are
they living,” asked Perine, who once headed the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “We have to
start thinking about people’s lives for real not just how we would like to imagine success, like everyone is married with two
kids in a house or a big apartment some place."

communal kitchens and shared bathrooms. It quickly became known as the urban kibbutz.
And a team headed by Peter Gluck, a Manhattan architect, showed how it might fit 20 small units —

The architects picked actual sites for their newly envisioned living spaces. Deborah Gans selected an old manufacturing
building in Astoria, Queens. Her design is a multi-use space where the ground floor would be used for manufacturing and
the upper floors would be tiny 140 square foot apartments surrounding a courtyard to provide air and light (seen in
rendering below courtesy of GANSstudio). Each unit would have mini kitchens and bathrooms. There would be shared living
rooms, dining rooms and laundry rooms.

Under One Roof, Whitestone, Queens.
Re-thinking the detached single family
house for the extended family.
(Courtesy of architects Rafi Segal and
Stan Allen)

Gans envisioned this “mini unit” as a place for a diverse group of people. "The rock musician who is in town one week a month who really just needs a place
to crash," Gans said. "At the same time, the cousin of the new immigrant family who is trying to figure where he’s going to live."
Architects Rafi Segal and Stan Allen looked at redesigning a single family house in White Stone, Queens, so that three generations of a family could live in it
comfortably. Segal said it was important to choose existing structures in order to show that rethinking housing doesn’t mean having to build new structures.
"Understanding that you can think of different kinds of architecture within the existing urban condition is very different from that last wave of housing in the 60’s

RE:MX
Plan (to right)
Courtyard Rendering (bottom)

laundry
lounge

corridor storage

RAVENSNEST
Street View Rendering

First Step
Housing for the
Homeless

Gans
Studio

First-Step Housing was commissioned by Common Ground
Community as a new kind of flop-house dwelling unit that
stands within a larger loft space as an alternative to the
armory-type shelter. The frame and panel system allows
for a variety of unit occupancies, sizes, and configurations. The unit affords users three choices of privacy
via three sliding panels, all with varying levels of
transparency:
- Solid core door
- Translucent Kalwall panel
- Perforated metal closet screen
All three panels are set back from the exterior of the
closet to create a zone of transition, similar to a porch.
These amenities were developed through extensive interviews with the homeless clientele.
The unit is composed of a kit of parts, some of which are
customized and prefabricated. The fundamental component
is a single, custom cruciform aluminum extrusion that can
be cut to any length. The system’s strength and stability depend upon the connection of the frame to standard
plywood. This hybrid construction allows the frame to
be a smaller, lighter aluminum section, making it cheaper
and more easily shipped.
In a stripped down version,
an aid organization could ship eight-foot lengths of the
cruciform and improvise the rest locally. A team of two
can erect two attached units in half a day. The project
has been published widely in the media and the book by
Sam Davis, “Designing for the Homeless”.

Client

Common Ground Community

Aluminum Column

Desk
Plywood Panel

Double Unit

Aluminum Beam

Bed

6'-8"

Single Unit

Ă&#x2DC; 5'-0"

Solid Core Door

Armoire

Quadruple Unit

Bedroom Interior

Triple Unit

Plans for
Plans for
Clustered
Clustered
Units Units

Plywood Awning

Bedroom Exterior

3'-0"

2'-10 1/2"
8'-0"

2'-1 1/2"

3/4"=1'0

Kalwall Panel

Gans
Studio

Deborah Gans has defined and
explored new design problems
in relation to her sensitive understanding of social
trends.

Deborah Gans
AIA, RA

She has often tackled extreme sites and programs
such as refugee camps in order to address their design
problems directly but also
to reveal design insights
for the imminent everyday
“new normal”. A product of
ten years of research, her
Roll-Out House first conceived for refugee camps
was featured in the U.S.
Pavilion at the 2008 Venice Biennial and has been
published widely. This research informed her work in
New Orleans post Hurricane
Katrina. Funded by a large
Housing and Urban Development Grant, Gans was part
of an interdisciplinary team
that worked directly with
a community in New Orleans
East. This dynamic team
developed new environmental
strategies that would benefit
the locals and also provided
strategies for future events
across many American coastal
suburbs.

Firm
Gans Studio
Brooklyn, NY

Education
Harvard University
Bachelor of Architecture, 1977
Princeton University
Master of Architecture, 1981

Professional Qualification
Registered Architect:
New York State
Maryland

Much of her design research
focuses on the challenges
of housing, especially in
relation to the underserved.
From her involvement in the
watershed study project of
The Architectural League,
Vacant Lots for Infill Sites
(1986) that reinvigorated
small lot development, to
her current participation
in the Making Room (a design
project that became the basis for the current New York
City RFP AdAPT), she has
used her design speculation
as a platform for advocacy
and policy change.
She argues for the importance of design excellence
in attacking social problems and against the false
dichotomy between socially

relevant and high design. She
brings the highest standards
to all projects equally, be it
the window for The Museum at
Eldridge Street executed with
Kiki Smith that won an AIA
Faith and Form award or the
desk she developed for challenged New York Public School
children that received a patent and is in the permanent
collection of the New York
Historical Society.
Deborah Gans is Professor in
Architecture school at Pratt
Institute and author of The
Le Corbusier Guide as well as
many essays on the contemporary scene.
Selected Projects
First-step Housing
Common Ground Community
Workbox Desk System
The School Construction Authority of New York
Making Room
Citizens Housing and Policy
Council
Roll-Out House
Venice Biennial

2008

Rose Window with Kiki Smith
Museum at Eldridge street
The Graham School
Hastings –on- Hudson New York

APPROACH
This project team brings together John Finan and his firm
NYC Consulting Group LLC with a proven record of innovative and progressive development with Garrison Architects
commitment to sustainability and track record with prefabrication with Gans Studioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long term research and
experimentation with alternative forms of housing. Gans
Studio has also recently participated in the Community
Housing and Policy Council study Making Room. Our team
views the Adapt mico-unit as a valuable contribution to
New York housing that will meet the desires and needs
of a wide range of New Yorkers - students, young professional, doctors in residency, the elderly, the newly
arrived, the extended family member. From similar projects
in San Francisco and Brooklyn we are confident that there
will be a great demand for the units. Diversity arises
naturally from the micro-unit type and the various populations it will serve. This project provides identical 69
micro-unit, without variation in type or size so that the
mix of residents is expressed through the variety of life
style and experience they bring to the building rather
than through spatial financial markers such as size of
square footage or penthouse locations. Only the rent per
square foot varies. The proposal is for 80 percent market
rate and 20 percent affordable units.

CRITICAL ISSUES AND PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES
Issue: This building must balance the development costs,
the income produced by a relatively small number of units
and constrained commercial opportunity with the desires
for affordability, strong and generous ammenity space, and
high design quality.
Technique: Simplicity and Effi ciency
In order to provide the best quality for the unit and
its amenity spaces, the volume of the building and
unit layout is efficient and simple. Design dollars are

dedicated to features such as the balconies, green screens
and a penthouse social space that perform in relation to
the user as well as enhance the buildings appearance.
Distributed meeting places are created by capturing the
space of the hallways for lounges and storage and through
a strategic extension of the conditioned spaces with balconies and terraces.
Technique: Prefabrication
The prefabrication of the units will provide rapid execution, controlled and predictable costs and high construction quality. By utilizing a single, protoypical , â&#x20AC;&#x153;plug
and playâ&#x20AC;? module the quality and value benefits of repetition and factory production will be realized. Units are
designed for simple field conections and the maximazation of factory completion.
These results in a dramatic
time savings as units will be built in the factory while
the foundations and ground floor construction are being
prepared.
Critical Issue: The provision of amenity spaces that contain kitchens and laundries will require supervision and
maintenance.
Technique: Onsite Incentivized supervision
The developer intends to create rental incentives so that
residents have responsibility for organizing and running
the collective amenities. These residents will be carefully vetted and supervised by the building management so
that a high standard will be upheld.
Critical Issue: Because the units are small, their turn over
will most likely be more frequent than in standard apartment buildings and the wear and tear on the building will
also be higher than usual.
Technique: Unit Prototyping
A prototypical unit will The choice of durable and simple
finishes and appliances will prolong their lifespan and
reduce maintenance issues.
Technique: Construction Quality
Through factory prefabrication the quality of construction can be monitored and controlled to the highest
standard.
Technique: Durability
The choice of durable and simple finishes and appliances will prolong their lifespan and reduce maintenance
issues.

Critical Issue: As the first and model example of Adapt housing, this model must be a model of sustainable design as
well as providing humane and livable units.
Technique: LEED Platinum
The project will include all of the provisions necessary
for LEED Platinum certification.
Technique: Maximize Energy Conservation
A combination of optimal solar exposure, solar control,
insulation, efficient HVAC systems and faรงade detail systems will maximize energy conservation. Please see the
sustainablity text for more detail.
Technique: Maximize Energy Production
A combination of rooftop photovoltaics and solar thermal
energy production are used to maximize all available
solar energy.
Primary Design Objectives
The primary design objective is to create a new housing
typology in which the small size of the individual unit
enhances rather than compromises the life style of its
occupant. This requires that unit provide for the daily
functions of the resident while creating a high quality of architectural space and that the building very
high quality amenity spaces of that enhance and extend
the funcitoning of the individual unit. A complementary
objective is to create a building from small units that
as a whole can have a positive architectural character
and one that is a positive addition to the New York City
Urban fabric.
Level of Engagement anticipated by the Applicant
The applicant anticipates dedicating a project architect
and support team supervised by principals from both
Garrison Architect and Gans studio to the project for
the duration of the design and construction the project.
Calling upon their long- time consulatants, they will
create an integrated team to accomplish the environmental and structural engineering of the project.

RATIONAL FOR DESIGN CONCEPT:
Building Confi guration and Lot Coverage
The building takes advantage of the relatively small size
and compactness of the site to create a statement of the
collective identity of the building through its simple
massing. The small units take on a single larger identity through the singular main volume that is wrapped
in a diaphanous layer of balconies and green wall. The
required open space is disposed in two parts: as a setback on the north side that responds to adjacent building
by creating a yard, and a continuous band on the south
side that allows for the overhang of the balconies and
green wall. All units face south on to the pedestrian
plaza. The building services and circulation are located
opposite those units on the northern edge that receives
less light and is a lot line condition The entrance to
the collective â&#x20AC;&#x153;houseâ&#x20AC;? addresses the street on the western side through a front porch that cascades down from
the roof terrace. It is a large scale gesture that frames
the simple volume and gives the front its identity.
Additionally, the building corridors end as a vertical
series of smaller â&#x20AC;&#x153;front porches, from which the residents can survey the park city beyond.
Height
The building fills the envelope allowed by quality housing. The residential units are contained with in the volume defined by zoning before the set back. This creates a
clear and equal relation to the pedestrian street for all
units. The penthouse area within the setback is given over
to public amenities rather than to privileged apartments.
Orientation and Relation to Surroundings
The ground floor of the building is continually glazed
along its southern edge to take advantage of its location
along a pedestrian way. The ground floor lounge insures
that residents will have direct view and access to that
open space. Because the site rises to the west, the roof
top and the northern porches will capture views of the
parks, pedestrian ways and street life toward second
avenue. The one vehicular way passes along the western
face of the building
Building Confi guration and Circulation
The circulation on the residential floors is along a naturally lit single Straight loaded corridor onto which all
units open equally that presents a clear and transparent
organization. The placement of the stair at the center
of is intended to encourage residents to climb to their
floor and encounter others on the way up and down. The
corridor on each residential floor extends at its western
end into a lounge providing a gathering place near the
circulation.

Two dedicated social realms bracket the building top and
bottom: a roof top that cascades down to a terrace and a
ground floor lobby that opens on to an additional basement space. Accessed directly from the circulation core,
the roof top is a destination space with a meeting/dining room supported by an extensive kitchen with multiple
appliances for multiple cooks; a penthouse laundry, and
an outdoor recreation area that connects to the building’s “front porch” balcony one level below. This collective front porch can be reached form the “ships ladder” from the roof terrace or directly by elevator. The
lounge adjoining the lobby is an extension of the natural
flow of the residents as they enter and leave. It extends
to the basement level via stair and light well where a
second cooking facility that could conceivably operate
as a concession building café provides more group dining possibility. These social spaces are not just lounges
but loaded with come domestic services in order to extend
the capacity of the individual unit to accommodate a full
range of apartment activities from dinner for 8 to super
bowl Sunday to a building wide Thanksgiving.
The dwelling unit of 250 sf has several major zones of
use that purposefully overlap to extend the real and
perceived dimension of each one. A layer of storage and
mechanical outside of the apartment provides a transitional zone between the corridor and the unit. Within the
layer, each resident has a locked storage closet that will
help control apartment clutter. Inside the unit, there are
thresholds at either end– a balcony on the south side and
a closet on the north, that expand the psychological as
well as real dimension of space. Beyond the entry threshold is the zone of kitchen and bathroom that opens onto
the major living area. The kitchenette extends into the
living area through a flip up table. The bathroom extends
past its enclosure as a mini-boudoir with a sink and the
closet armoire. In the case of a resident with disability, the bathroom can extend the apartment’s entire width
by moving the armoire forward.
Primary Building Materials
The use of material follow the clear logic of the building mass, system of construction and site conditions.
The circulation core on the lot line is constructed of
concrete masonry units with a ground and polished finish.
The south facing walls are of insulated glass panels and
doors. The west and east short ends expose the prefabricated module which will be clad in a simple currogated
metal. ????? The finishes of the public spaces and apartments are chosen with an eye to the durable and sustainable such as bamboo and cork.
Major Architectural Features
The major architectural features of the building are at
the service of the residents as well as giving the building its identity. They are the balconies and adjacent

green wall that together create a diaphanous veiled
volume and the cascading terraces and porches on the
front of the building. In particular the trellis frame
that extends form the penthouse terrace to the seventh
floor front porch creates a large scale identifying framework for the building. Within the building, the social
spaces, in particular the roof top penthouse provide an
architecturally loaded as well as social amenity. Most
importantly, we believe the unit itself has a spatial
structure and surfaces that will make the residents deem
it architectural.

SUSTAINABILITY
Specifi c high performance and sustainable design opportunities
Integrated sustainability is central to the design of this
building. A combination of conservation and passive and
active energy generation are utilized to achieve energy
consumption approximately seventy five percent below current standards. The building will be capable of achieving LEED Platinum with the following features:
Gravity Ventilation
Oversized (8 sf/apartment) passive ventilation shafts that
double as utility connection and access points. These
shafts continue through the upper roof and into the
atmosphere to allow buoyant air, and prevailing breeze
generation in addition to supplemental fans.
These shafts allow a large quantity of air to pass
through the apartment during moderate seasons for maximum
comfort without air conditioning.
High Effi ciency Heat Pumps
Each unit receives an individually controlled variable
refrigerant volume heat pump positioned at the exterior
wall to address radiant heat loss at glass areas. This
is a completely self contained â&#x20AC;&#x153;plug and play system with
small condenser units placed within the faĂ§ade screen.
These units achieve approximately forty five percent efficiency gains over the ASHRAE 90.1 standard. Heat energy
is paid for by individual tenants to encourage responsible consumption.
Solar Heated Water
Domestic water is heated by a combination of evacuated
tube and thermal collectors positioned at the edge of the
photovoltaic canopy. These collectors supply all of the
buildings domestic hot water that is stored in tanks in
the roof top mechanical room.

Photovoltaic Array
The entire roof top is covered by a photo voltaic canopy
consisting of 2375 square feet of collector area. This
array will generate approximately 16.2 kwh/year/sf or
38,475 kilowatt hours per year. It is expected that
apartment heating and cooling will require approximately
3 kwh/sf per year or 51,750 kwh/year. Therefor photovoltaics will generate seventy four percent of the required
energy.
Green Façade
The south façade of the building is designed as a system
of three foot deep terraces with integrated planters,
stainless steel mesh trellises, and louvers for solar
control. This system is designed to eliminate all summer
solar gain from the building façade. To the extent that
the tall building to the immediate south will allow low
angle winter sun will penetrate the apartments to provide
passive heating.
Insulation
A high performance building envelope is utilized including Ventilated (rain-screen) façades, R35 walls/R50 roof
insulation, reduced thermal bridging, Heat Mirror glazing with suspended film to achieve a thermal resistance
rating of R6.
It has both active and passive systems that together
insure that is will perform sustainably. The roof top
solar array provides…. The south facing balcony and
green wall both take advantage of and manage solar gain.
Because the western face is subject to eh most light and
glare, the balconies rather than units face in that direction. The units will be individually controlled with VVF
hvac untis to limit overall building loads. The single
loaded corridor allows for the building

ZONING
Compliance and Overrides
The design anticipates the adoption of C2-5 Zoning and is
as of right within that zoning designation as a Quality
Housing Building. A building separation easement will be
requested along the north property line. The following
general zoning paramaters apply:
Block No. 933
Lot 10
Community District 6
Bounded by First Avenue, East 28th St, Mount Carmel Pl,
and East 27th St.
Site Dimensions 45’ x 105’
Site Area 4725 sf
Current Zoning District R8
Anticipated Zoning District C2-5